Hereinafter, a culture is a specification of societal norms that attributes a social position or status to a human who participates in a society formed according to specification. Often the specification takes the form of a hierarchy of social positions. A culture can be specific to a country or a region therein. Some cultures span multiple countries and apply to large regions of the world. Conversely, some cultures are micro-cultures in that they apply to small communities, such as tribes, organizations, or other groups of people.
A specification of a culture is sometimes expressed in text, but can also be oral or implied understanding of the societal norms that apply in the culture. Societal norms are human behavior, conduct, or mannerisms that are regarded as various degrees of desirable, acceptable, undesirable, or unacceptable within the culture.
Culturally-sensitive interaction is a complex undertaking. Different cultures regard different manners of interactions as desirable, or at least acceptable. Often, a manner of interaction that is acceptable in one culture may be unacceptable in another culture. For example, it is acceptable in certain western cultures to address a person by the person's first name. Certain eastern cultures regard addressing a person by the person's first name unacceptable, or even highly inappropriate if the person is an elder or occupies a certain position in that culture.
Furthermore, even within a given culture, interacting with different people can require different mannerisms. For example, a casual tone of a conversation is regarded as acceptable in informal business-related or non-business-related conversations with one's coworkers in one culture, whereas in another culture an informal tone is never acceptable with one's superior but is acceptable in non-business conversations with one's peer.